First period thoughts

No score through 20 minutes here at Wachovia Center. If anyone thought there wouldn’t be plenty of reminders about last season’s playoff series before the game started, well, then you were wrong. Some thoughts on the action:

*The Caps went 0-for-4 on the power play, and generally were just too cute. Too many passes and not nearly enough shots. Chris Bourque did a pretty good job on the point, and created one of the best chances with a diagonal pass to Sami Lepisto. Brook Laich struggled a bit when he set up shop in the corner instead of his customary place in front of the net.

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*Overall, the Caps did not have a very good period, and Brent Johnson had a lot to do with the score being nil-nil. He has stopped 45 of 46 shots this postseason to this point.

*John Erskine took a pair of penalties, but the Caps PK units, including a heavy dose of Alexander Semin, were up to the task.

*The box score on the new NHL.com is not working, but check out the new ‘Is this the Year?’ ads on the site. There are dozens of them, including one with Alex Ovechkin and a general Caps one. I just showed Ovechkin his (he and Simeon Varlamov made the drive up to watch their mates play) here in the press box, and he approves.